The Advocate

The Advocate, Book 1

By: Teresa Burrell

Narrated by: Summer Rona

Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

For Sabre Orin Brown, life is good; she has it all...or would have, if only she could solve the mysterious disappearance of her brother. The search for her brother and her career as a juvenile-court attorney collide when she defends a nine-year-old whose father will go to any length to obtain custody.

Sabre finds herself immersed in a case with too many unanswered questions. Her quest for the truth takes her coast to coast and five years into the past. Confronted with mysterious clues and strange occurrences, Sabre is threatened by someone wanting to make her suffer the unbearable anguish of losing everything - including her life.

As Sabre's passion to find the answers intensifies, she discovers a twisted history of desperation, deceit, and revenge. And she discovers how obscure and treacherous the truth can be.

The Advocate, a legal-suspense murder mystery, is the first book in The Advocate Series. Three characters continue throughout the series, Sabre Orin Brown, defense attorney; her investigator, J.P. Torn; and her colleague Bob Clark. The Advocate is followed by The Advocate's Betrayal

, The Advocate's Conviction, The Advocate's Dilemma, and The Advocate's Ex Parte.

©2009 Teresa Burrell (P)2013 Teresa Burrell

A good story, but a really weird hero...

All of us look for certain characteristics in books that determine whether or not we like them. This one has a good story, an intriguing mystery, but is sorely lacking a likable hero.

Here's my rant about the advocate, Sabre Brown. Remember it's purely subjective on my part. First is her ridiculous name. Second is her weird and inappropriate relationship with her married best friend and law partner, Bob. It's not sexual, but it is far too intimate for two attractive young attorneys who work so closely together. They call each other honey and have cute nicknames for each other, have lunch daily....it goes on and on.

Finally, though she is beautiful and kind, she does not have a single friend other than Bob. No exaggeration, not one single relationship. In the first chapter, part of the back story is that she is devastated by the loss of her older brother, which certainly makes sense. However, Ms Burrell lays it on way too thick for my taste.

We all know of real and fictional attorneys, especially early in their career, forgoing their personal life to jumpstart their careers. It's understandable, if unwise. Sabre is literally a child advocate, extremely gifted and sensitive. I love that about her. But this is fiction and I felt she was hugely undeveloped as a person.

The story is fascinating and makes the book worthy of your time. It's complicated and complex and deserved more attention than the author gave it. It has a hurried ending and unsatisfying explanation of what finally occurred.

Summer Rona, the narrator, has one of the most pleasant voices I've encountered on Audible. Her accents are good and she did men very well. I was disappointed with the sound production, letting us hear pages turn and her wetting lips in the middle of sentences. Still, it was a strong performance.

In the end, I listened to the entire book because I had to hear how it ended.

Great story !

If you could sum up The Advocate in three words, what would they be?

Exciting, emotional, interesting

Who was your favorite character and why?

Saber, she just keeps going and does what is right.

What about Summer Rona’s performance did you like?

Her voice was soothing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If time allowed I could have listened to the entire book in one sitting.

Any additional comments?

I began the book with a sinking feeling, I did not want to listen to a sad, twisted tale of child abuse. I quickly realized that this would not be a disgusting story, playing on horror for the sake of horror but a well written story of genuine friendship, a blend of mystery, humor, and sadness to produce a story that kept me interested and did not end as I suspected.

Narration is horrible

It is so difficult to listen to this horrible narration. She is so breathy. Sometimes she sounds like she just ran and other times she is licking her lips or something. COMPLETELY ruined the book for me. I turned it off about half way. Seriously terrible narration.

Uninteresting

The worst part was the reader's heavy swallowing and breathing! The story itself was not interesting. It took me months to finish listening, and all the while I hoped there would be a zag to take it in a different direction, but no. It was not a good book.

Unlikely protagonist, but it works very well!

This is Book 1 of a 7 book series (with more to come). I listened to Book 6 first and liked it, so I'll be listening to other books in the series.

The protagonist in this legal thriller series is Sabre Orin Brown. She is a lawyer whose specialty is child advocacy. The real star of this novel is an adorable, brave, and very intelligent 10 year old named Alexis.

Narration is fine, but likely deserves 4 stars rather than 3.

I like this legal thriller series and recommend it.

Narration spoiled the book

The story was predictable and mindless, a little "sappy" but okay for a summer afternoon. The narration was horrible. There was no change of voice from one character to another and the narrator was breathy to the point of distraction. I listened to the entire book but I could hardly wait for it to end.

Very informative and smooth reading

If you could sum up The Advocate in three words, what would they be?

Excellent informative touching

Who was your favorite character and why?

Saber she is a tough litigator who doesn't give up on the children until she is sure they are being taken care of properly

Which character – as performed by Summer Rona – was your favorite?

The same. Saber I also like ther friend and sometime confidant

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes as a foster parent I loved reading about all the other things that go into protecting children

An Advocate's Strong Start

I'm a fan of legal procedural thrillers set in Los Angeles, and the richly drawn lawyers in them, like Marcia Clark's Rachel Knight (Guilt by Association, 2011; etc.) and Michael Connelly's Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer, 2005; etc.). I decided to travel outside of the familiar (for me) world of the Los Angeles County Superior Courts to the San Diego County Family and Juvenile Courts with Teresa Burrell's Sabre Oren Brown.

The geographic setting wasn't a leap - San Diego's a day trip from LA - but the change to child advocacy law was a jolt. In the bigger counties in California, criminal, family and civil law courts are in separate courtrooms, and sometimes, separate buildings. I'd never even heard the term "jurisdictional hearing". That's something Sobs (from her initials), as she's known to her best friend, Bob, does often. I Googled the term and I'd guessed right about what it meant. There were a few terms Burrell used in "The Advocate" that could have used defining, even for an almost 20 year California attorney.

"The Advocate" is a good introduction to the child advocate lawyer Sobs. She is a strong, independent, extremely organized, and unusually empathetic attorney. The plot is almost too intricate, so I wonder if Burrell intended this to be a stand alone mystery, not the start of the series. Some of the plot twists are very obvious - but there are surprises that make it worth listening all the way through. As in, don't skip chapters and don't listen to the last chapter right after the first to see if you guessed right. Your suppositions are misplaced, and you won't know it if you don't listen.

Summer Rona, the narrator, started out pretty rough - I had trouble differentiating between characters. Rona found her voice about 1/3 of the way in, and finished strong.

[If this review helped, please press YES. Thanks!]

Love Teresa Burrell

Where does The Advocate rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is only my 3rd audiobook, it's also the only book I have completed. The others were hard to follow so shut them off.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Advocate?

When Carla and Sabre saw Dr. Steele

Which scene was your favorite?

The suspense behind Sabre being attacked by the bat.

Any additional comments?

Love Teresa's ability to draw you in from the beginning..if the first chapter is boring I tend to move on. Her books are clean, funny and full of suspense. I've never read or listened to more than 1 book in a series until now, 2 more and I'll be caught up. Keep up the great work Teresa!

Captivated until the end

Where does The Advocate rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is my first from audible. I preferred the Audible method. Other books I've read had sound effects that at times we distracting,

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Advocate?

When Alexis defies her father and escapes with Sabre comes second to Sabre getting a visit from Ron.

What about Summer Rona’s performance did you like?

Summer's voice was clear and easy to listen to. I liked the fact that she just read the book as opposed to acting it out (using different voices for different characters. I did notice that she was not consistent in pronouncing Sabre's name.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed at Sabre chasing the doctor down the hall and asking him to show her his legs. I cried when she was able to see her brother.

Any additional comments?

In this first book of the series we meet Sabre (aka Sobs) and her closest friend and her associate Bob. Both are lawyers who work in the Juvenile Court System in San Diego. They often work on the same case, sometimes on opposite sides, but they both have a strong commitment to the children and work doesn't change their friendship. Bob is a big support to Sabre as she deals with the disappearance of her brother
A parent who is not pleased with the courts decision and takes matters into his own hands.
The book is exciting, funny in some cases and opens a person's eyes to the evil that still exists in this world.
If you like exciting legal themed books this book is for you. I loved it.

Action packed!!!!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

A little less drama

Would you recommend The Advocate (The Advocate Series) to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes I have already

Any additional comments?

Thanks to Teresa for the audiobook For a listen to review I like to try different things and a law thriller is something I've not tried The book seems to be aimed at women primarily, and from the other reviews I've read it seems to hit all their buttons.As for meA bit too much happening in this one bookI felt like I'd just watched an entire season of 24.The main characters history is wheeled out in this first instalment, which i sort of expected to be drawn out throughout the series. This book has murder, kidnap, drugs, mobsters, arson, missing persons and moreSo you won't be bored. Although you may feel overwhelmed.I will be getting my mrs to listen to it too to see what she thinks of it. And I'll edit later if I can, to add her review.If you like TV shows like criminal intent or body of prof and law and order then I'd say you will love this.I'm sure the series will grow, and hope the next one takes the foot off the peddle a little and let the characters slowly develop, instead of giving us too much background too soon.

Too many threads.

This is a very busy thriller with loads going on and a lot of different storylines occurring, some of which are intertwined, some not. I felt it had too many different threads, plot devices and twists for one book and got a little muddled.

The main character, Sabre, seems to be more than perfect at everything except being alert to danger. Several of the characters are not fully rounded out and the Dr. Steel character being a doppelganger of Sabre's brother was just too unbelievable.

There were a lot of good points, some thrills and clever plots but overall it felt too crowded, and with many relationships & backgrounds etc not explained or detailed at all.

The narrator does a good job but I can't get used to the way she pronounces Sabre as "Say Brur" instead of "Say Buh". Maybe it's a regional thing but the "r" has never been pronounced anywhere I've been or in anything I've watched or listened to. It's not helped by sometimes appearing that she does say it correctly and other times not. Having listened to samples of the later books in the series both Laurel Shroeder & John Bell pronounce it correctly as "Say Buh".

I'm not sure whether I'll read any more from the series based on this book except perhaps #9, The Advocate's Geocache, and that purely because I'm a very keen geoacacher myself.

I received a free copy of this audiobook either from the author or a promotion or giveaway and am voluntarily writing an honest and unbiased review.

A good listen

I enjoyed this Audiobook and it is worth a listen, although it is not quite a five star review.

First rate

A first rate thriller, good characters and a good narration highly recommend this book to thriller fans

Good story, worst narration.

The story was interesting and the characters seemed likeable. The narration was horrible. Flat, boring, reading style. It was like listening to child rush through a homework reading. Bad pauses, horribly rushed, so hurried she misread portions. She totally detracted from the story because she was racing. She didn’t even pause the tape or lean back in order to swallow out of earshot like the good narrators do. You shouldn’t have to hear gulping sounds so frequently and loudly that it turns your stomach. She badly needs some technical advice and I’ve honestly heard better reading from my 8 year old reading a bedtime story to her little brother.

Keeps you on your toes

Wow, I really enjoyed this story, it had so many twist and turns it kept you guessing what was going to happen next, until the very end. I kept thinking it was nearly finished and they had caught the bad guy only for it to take another turn.

The story is very compelling and you find yourself getting attached to the characters, I hope the rest of the books in this series are like this one, as I am off to check out the next and find out what happens next to the heroine.

The narrator was very good and made it a very enjoyable listen and easy to picture what was happening as it unfolded. This author and narrator are both worth checking out.

Goes beyond to solve problems

This book is about an advocate who goes into detective work to solve a mystery. She is a juvenile court lawyer who is appointed as advocate for a client and must become a detective in an effort to protect the child she is appointed to help.

Her own life is placed in danger as she must investigate the dark world from which the child comes.

The narration is exceptional.

This book was provided free of charge with the expectation of an honest review.

Great Legal Mystery, Great Narration

I loved how the author, Teresa Burrell, wove this mystery. She combined so much action into the story, lots of travel, a few great characters, kidnapping, a stalker, the mob, a fire, subtle humor, and a wonderful ending in one. The imagery was well done too! Without giving away spoilers, I loved the ending. Summer Rona added to this book with her emotions. I had read this book several years ago and enjoyed it then, and enjoyed the audiobook even more now. I requested this review copy audiobook and have voluntarily written this review.